Down the Bone Eater's Well
by HanyouHeroine
Summary: Naraku has been destroyed, and the Shikon Jewel has been expelled from the world. However, can Kagome exist in the Feudal Era without the Jewel? Can true love conquer all? [Alternate ending for The Final Act]
1. Love Can Find A Way

**A/N: Alright, so as far as this one-shot goes, I suppose it is an alternate ending for The Final Act. Please feel free to leave your opinions via the Review section! I have some interest in developing this into a three parter. But of course, that depends on the reception I get from you guys. I have so many unfinished stories going, that I'm thinking it might be best for me to work on one-shots for the time being, and try to expand on them. **

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

Relief flooded Kagome's entire being as she saw the great light that was the completed Shikon Jewel disappearing forever, granting her final wish. Naraku was dead. The Jewel was gone. Finally, their mission was over. InuYasha turned to her with the biggest smile on his face, and pulled her flush against him, crashing his lips against her's.

"You did it, Kagome," he whispered, his voice full of awe, "How did you know what to wish for?"

"I just kept thinking 'what can I do to make the Jewel disappear forever?' and it occurred to me to WISH that it would disappear. It made sense to me."

The villagers began to disperse from the scene, with the intention of preparing a small celebratory feast. InuYasha looked at Kaede, who nodded at him and smiled. She followed the villagers, and ushered Miroku, Sango, Kirara and Shippo to follow suit.

"We need to talk," InuYasha whispered. Suddenly nervous, the young miko allowed him to take her hand and lead her to the Sacred Tree, the very spot where they had first met almost two years ago. "What are you going to do now?" he asked.

"I- I guess I'm not entirely sure. I mean, what is there for me to do?" Kagome began to stare intently at a very entertaining spot of grass at the tree's base. InuYasha brought his hand to her chin and lifted her face to his, kissing her ever so sweetly.

"Stay. Stay here, and become my mate. My wife. Kagome, you couldn't begin to understand how much it would hurt me to have to let you go after all this time. Please, stay?" His gaze penetrated Kagome's very soul, and for a moment she actually couldn't breathe. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she attacked him in the biggest hug she could muster.

"Yes, InuYasha, a thousand times, yes!"

He was stunned. _She actually said yes. To me. A hanyou! Kami, I don't deserve her…_ He held her close to him and peppered kisses all over her face and in her soft hair. "My Kagome."

"My Hanyou," Kagome giggled.

The couple sat there for some time longer, just enjoying each other's company. That is when Kagome got the idea. She reached beside her for her quiver, and took out an arrow. "What are you doing?" InuYasha inquired.

"Testing a theory." She turned to face the tree and very low on it she began to etch 'I+K' into the bark. InuYasha watched her with a confused expression on his face. "I want to go back to my era and see if the mark is there!" Finally catching on, Inu smiled one of his rare smiles, reserved almost exclusively for Kagome, his lady love. They stood up from the base of the tree, and hand in hand they walked toward the well. However, before she even had the chance to react, Kagome felt an otherworldly force pulling her toward the Bone Eater's well. Not even InuYasha's strength could keep her from being sucked in.

"KAGOME!" She saw his pained expression that surely mirrored her own in her last milliseconds in the Feudal era.

_Why is this happening? INUYASHA, HELP ME!_ Hope was a futile thing to have. She was being hurled through the familiar expanse of blue liquid with sparkling lights.

Moments after, the blue surrounding her was gone. She could see the wooden roof of the Higurashi family's well house a good twenty feet above her head. She climbed up the ladder quickly, turning around at the top to jump back down to get back to InuYasha.

She learned in that moment that gravity can be a bitch. Her ankle crunched under her under the force of my landing.

"What? No! Why won't you work?!" Panic engulfed the miko as she dug her fingers into the ground at the bottom of the well. She knew it was useless. Tears began to fall in rivers down her cheeks as the horrible truth was sinking in. _I have been expelled from the Feudal era._

She cried, and stamped her fists into the ground for Kami knows how long. She didn't care that her ankle was almost surely fractured; She needed to get back to her hanyou. Her InuYasha.

She sat at the bottom of the well for two days. Eventually, she had cried herself dry and just sat there shaking, holding her knees against her torso. She didn't care that her stomach cried out for food, or that her ankle was injured, She figured that if she waited patiently, the well would reopen for her. She pacified herself with thoughts of her and InuYasha's wedding ceremony. _Would he have one on my side of the well? _

Her younger brother, Sota interrupted her reverie as he entered the well house, in search of Buyo. "Buyo!" he called, "Where'd you go? You had better not have gone down the well… You know I hate going down there to get you!"Sota took one look down and saw his sister, haggard and dishevelled. "Sis! What are you doing? Are you okay? I'm getting Mom!" Suddenly, the young girl's eyes weren't so dried out anymore.

"Kagome!" her mother called, "What is going on? Please come up here!"

"I can't," she muttered. The echo of the well allowed her mother to hear her voice, as mute as it was. "My ankle is injured."

"Well, how did you get back then? Oh, never mind that, I'm calling an ambulance to come get you out!"

Hours later she learned that her ankle was indeed fractured and that she would have to wear an ankle brace for a number of weeks. Mrs Higurashi called them a taxi to get them back to the shrine, and she helped her daughter limp her way up the many stairs.

As soon as they got to the house Kagome made her way to her bedroom, and closed the door. She somehow managed to get under the covers of the bed and allowed herself to mull over the events of the passed days again.

_I'm engaged... And I'm never going to see my fiancé again. What are you doing right now, InuYasha? Why did the well stop working for us?_

She fell asleep at some point during the night, certainly due to sheer exhaustion. After much consideration, she decided to try an arrow in the well, perhaps that would give her a way back. Perhaps. _Finding an arrow, though… _

"Sitting there isn't going to bring her back, you know." _Why can't the goddamn monk just leave me alone? _

"Keh."

As annoying as he was being, InuYasha appreciated that he brought his meals to the Sacred Tree, where he sat attentively, ears peeled, for almost three days. Miroku was a true friend to him, despite being a lecher. Sometimes he would even sit there with the hanyou for a few hours, in absolute silence. He would pray, on occasion. _Like that's going to help. The Kami obviously has something against me._

"InuYasha, have you considered that perhaps Kagome was meant to leave this world as soon as our mission was done? Maybe the Kami had this planned for her all this time…"

"You don't know nothin' about it, _Miroku_! Kagome was born to be with me, and I was born to be with her, to protect her _in this world_. We were going to get _married_, for Kami sake!"

Miroku looked taken aback at that. Having been preparing his and Sango's wedding for a day or so now, he seemed to feel a new sort of pity for the young dog demon. "I didn't know you had proposed."

"Doesn't matter much right now, does it?"

"Oh, but it does. Just remember InuYasha, you've done an amazing deed for our world and you've earned some good karma. Pray on it."

He stood up and left, heading back toward Kaede's village. _Why is everybody so intent on leaving me here alone? Can't they see it's killing me?_

He fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming about all the horrible things that could have happened to Kagome in her world, a whole 'nother kind of dangerous lied beyond that well, and InuYasha knew he wasn't able to protect her from it. _What kind of mate allows that to happen?_

Kagome woke up from her restless slumber and wrestled her way out of bed. She told her mother about everything, crying and hiccupping through the whole story.

"I love him, Mama. So much. I want to live there, in the Feudal era. I want to see him again." Mrs Higurashi could do nothing more than coo sweet encouragements in her daughter's ear, as she held her to her chest. _When did my baby get to be so old? I should have known, two years ago, that we would wind up losing her like this…_

She gave Kagome some money to take a taxi to the train station, from where she boarded and began her search of an old store that specialized in swords and weaponry. Her prayers were answered when she found they had a bow and arrow set for sale. She made her purchase and left as quickly as her leg brace would allow, to get back to the well house and try her sacred arrow on it.

_Please, please let this work… _She drew the arrow, aimed straight for the bottom of the well, and released.

The usual pink light danced around the arrow. Kagome's heart picked up a thousand times its usual rhythm as she waited for the cloud of dirt that had collected to dissipate.

Nothing.

No blue pool of light.

No glimmer of the sky in the Feudal era.

No hope of ever seeing her hanyou again.

She had failed him. She promised him months ago, that whenever she came home she would always come back to him and their friends. She promised him that she'd stand by his side, even when she knew he wanted Kikyo.

She walked slowly to the Sacred Tree. As she moved to sit down, she noticed something near the bottom.

"I+K…" Kagome whispered. At that, she began to cry in earnest for the life she could have had.

InuYasha was awoken by the sound of Kagome's sobbing. He could smell her tears. His eyes shot open right away, but looking around he could not see her.

"Kagome?" He whispered.

_Kami, am I going crazy?_

A soft hiccup interrupted the sobbing, "Inu…Yasha?"

"Kagome, where are you? How can I hear you?"

"I'm… I'm sitting at our tree. I'm stuck in my time, Inu! I can't get back! I've tried an arrow and I've tried digging my way through, why won't anything work InuYasha?" The hanyou could hardly understand her though her sobs, and it broke his heart.

"Miroku thinks that maybe your time here was over. He said perhaps you could only exist here while the Shikon Jewel did. He thinks it was inevitable," he whispered solemnly.

"Lies! Inu, I know that that isn't true! There has to be a way for me to get back to you!"

"Do you really want to come back here, Kagome? I mean, you have so many luxuries in your time, so many things that you'd miss. You realize, if you managed to get back here, chances are that the well will be sealed for good…"

"Of course I'm sure, you idiot! I'm supposed to marry you! We were supposed to build a hut in the village, right next to Miroku and Sango's, and our pups were supposed to grow up with their babies! I don't care about indoor plumbing and trains, I would forsake all of that for you!"

InuYasha was stunned at her words. He knew she loved him, hanyou and all, but he always thought that between him in this world and her own modern family and lifestyle, he would be fighting a losing battle. His heart swelled with pride, thinking about what she had just admitted to him. Tears somehow managed to slip down his face and before the poor hanyou knew it, he was crying with Kagome for the life they were supposed to have.

Tetsusaiga pulsed in its sheath. "Kagome, I'll be back, I think there might be something approaching here…"

"Come back to me," she whispered, "I don't know if I can live without you."

He unsheathed the Tetsusaiga and looked around him, intent on picking up demon scent. The sword started pulsing more and more violently, and soon the blade was swathed in pink. _What is going on?_

He turned back to the tree and put his hand against it. "Kagome, I need you to do something. Shoot another arrow in the well."

"What difference will it make?" she sniffed. "I tried and it didn't work."

"Do you trust me?"

"With my life."

"I promise you, this will work. In 60 seconds, to give you time to get there, shoot." Not willing to spend any more time than he had to away from her, InuYasha ran to the well.

He counted down the seconds in his head, and without fail, he saw small pink sparks from Kagome's arrow permeate the soil at the bottom of the well on the Feudal side. InuYasha raised Tetsusaiga above his head and swept it downward; putting all of his hopes and dreams into the swing, for the girl who had changed his world.

The hanyou waited impatiently for his vision to clear. At next glance, he saw a petite girl with ebony hair and soft brown eyes, red rimmed though they were, struggling up the side of the well to grasp his hand. He happily obliged her, lifting her out and ease and clutching her tightly against him.

"What did you do?" Kagome whispered, happy tears now replacing the ones of despair.

"I think it had something to do with the Sacred Tree. When my tears hit the tree roots, my sword starting to pulsate. Soon it was all pink and I just… I just knew it would open the well."

Kagome glanced up at the stars above them. "I think you're wrong. I think it was Kikyo."

InuYasha tilted his head, considering the possibility. That would explain the pink. Miko powers.

"Whatever it was, I'm just glad you're back in my arms. What happened to your leg? What's that thing on it?"

"I tried to jump from the top of the well, and I didn't go through. My ankle fractured. This is a brace," she explained this with an embarrassed look on her face.

InuYasha laughed lightly at her mishap. "Always the klutz." He slipped his right hand to the small of her back and pulled her close to him for a long, languid kiss. A kiss that promised things to come.

"Let's get back to the village, I want to marry you. Tonight." Kagome didn't so much as hesitate. She simply stepped behind him, and climbed onto his back with a slight bit more difficulty than usual.

_Down the Bone Eater's well, and back again... And I wouldn't have it any other way._

**REVIEW PLEASE! :D**


	2. Home Is Where The Heart Is

Standard disclaimer applies.

For what seemed like the millionth time that afternoon, he paced. Back and forth across the hut belonged to the village elder, where he'd been taken to prepare for his impending nuptials.

_Keh_, he thought, _why am I so nervous? It's only Kagome._

Only Kagome. Even his own subconscious knew better than to think his heavy sarcasm held any value. He'd been waiting for _only Kagome_ his entire life. His solace. His peace. His happiness and his reason for living. He thought what he had with Kikyo was love, but she had never accepted him. She _could_ never accept him because of her prejudices.

Kagome, on the other hand, knew no such prejudice. She harboured no ill will toward what he was, a hanyou, a half-breed. She cared not that in villages other than their own, she would be surely called down to the dirt for being _a half-breed's whore_. She was happy as long as she was with him. Never had Kikyo shown him true acceptance. She wanted even their friendship to be a secret, while Kagome sauntered around with her head held high and a quick retort ready for anybody who might think lowly of her hanyou companion.

The Inu-hanyou in question thought about this with a warmth radiating through his heart. Whatever hurdles were thrown their way from now on, they would jump them together. He loved the future-born miko with a fierceness that shook him to his very core. He would lay down his life for her in a heartbeat, but now that she aware that he was willing to lay down his heart, now he felt nervous.

"Inuyasha, my friend, why are you so nerve-wracked?" the houshi could not help but wonder what had his companion on edge. After all, he loved Kagome and Kagome evidently loved him back.

"Who said anythin' about my nerves, _houshi_? I'm fine. Just want this damn ceremony over and done with."

"Why ever would you want it to end so soon? Sango assures me that Lady Kagome will look absolutely radiant. Surely you will be eating your words when you see her. Also, I know how women are about their weddings, having performed a few ceremonies myself. She might not even want to leave until every guest has left."

_Every guest,_ he scoffed. It was just his luck that Sesshomaru and his wards had not strayed far from the village after the final battle, and Kagome had insisted that InuYasha chase them down and insist they come back for the wedding. _At least she didn't send me to the mangy wolf's den..._

"Whatever, I don't care about the stupid ceremony as long as Kagome is mine at the end of it. That's all that matters."

"Well as long as your vows show her that you put some thought into some part of this last-minute event, I'm sure she'll be happy to oblige you in leaving as soon as possible."

"W-w-what vows?" the hanyou stammered.

_Oh, Kami..._

Rin ran ahead of her Lord and Master when she caught sight of the hut she knew to be Lady Kaede's. She had figured the women would be getting ready here, and as usual she was right. She was quite the intuitive young girl.

Rin gasped as she entered the hut. "Wow! Lady Kagome you look so beautiful! Like a princess!" she exclaimed.

Kagome blushed and patted the young girl on the head. "Thank you, Rin. You're too sweet."

The young miko had certainly not expected InuYasha to present her with a wedding kimono once worn by his mother, but he was often full of surprises. After borderline demanding her hand- Kagome stifled a giggle at her reverie- she climbed onto his back and he took her to a tree not incredibly far from the village. He moved some shrubbery and Kagome saw that the tree was hollowed out at the bottom. After some digging, InuYasha procured a box. (Two, as a matter of fact, but one he tucked quickly into his hakamas lest she notice and question it. He had to keep something to surprise her later.) Inside the box was a shimmering silk kimono, stark white with green vines around the middle. It fit her like a glove and that only served as proof in her mind that she and InuYasha belonged together.

"Turn around now, Kagome, we must finish your hair!" Sango exclaimed. "Would you like to stay and help, Rin?"

"Of course!"

The young girl and the demon slayer got to work on forming Kagome's lilac scented hair into an intricate braid at the top of her head. Kagome merely focused on breathing in and out. She was getting _married_ for Kami sake! She only hoped her mother approved on the other side of the now-sealed well.

_After sending InuYasha off to chase Sesshomaru, Kagome hobbled her way to the old dry well, as fast as her lame ankle could carry her. She leaned over its edge from her perch on her knees and let a few tears fall._

_"I'm sorry for not saying goodbye, Mama, Jii-chan, Sota.. I hope you guys can forgive me. I could not wait any longer or else I might not have ever made it back here. I hope you understand that. InuYasha and I are to be married tonight and it would mean the world to me if you guys could be here but I know life doesn't work that way. I made my choice and forces beyond my imagination made it happen. I got back to the Feudal Era. I'll miss you guys so much but this is my home now. "Home is where the heart is," right? My heart is with InuYasha, though you all hold a huge place in there. I hope you guys don't worry and that you know I'm happy here." _

_She stood and made her way to the Tree of Ages, running her hand over the scar on the tree's bark that had been left there in tribute of InuYasha's 50 year stay against it._

_"So much deceit.. So much bloodshed and tears. We finally get to be happy. Finally we can have a quiet life. Oh, Kikyo, I hope that in your place in Heaven- as I am sure Hell was no place for you- you have no grudges against me. This was fate, it seems. We both love InuYasha. I can only hope you'll continue to watch over us. As much as I always wanted to resent you for pinning InuYasha here, had you not, how would I have found him? I was meant to, after all. Thank you for being the first to show him that some humans possess compassion for all living things. Thank you for showing him some semblance of peace until I could free him from your bounds. Thank you for loving him. I swear on your memory that I will do all I can to make him happy so you can rest easily."_

_With one last wistful look at the hole where the arrow had once been stuck, the young miko turned away from the tree and soon arrived back at the village to prepare for her wedding._

"It's time, Kagome. Are you ready?" Sango smiled at her friend- or rather, her sister- and took her place a good few feet in front of her for the short walk to the village elder's home. Rin walked a few paces in front of Sango, acting as flower girl.

Kagome could not help but awe at the crowd that had shown up to see InuYasha and Kagome married. The whole village was here, as well as some people she recognized from the next village over. Sesshomaru and Jaken were there as expected, and what surprised Kagome the most was that Sesshomaru stood next to InuYasha, between him and Miroku.

_Oh, InuYasha..._ She could not help but marvel at how the black kimono he wore provided a very dramatic contrast to his silver hair. She couldn't help but blush when she noticed that he was staring at her as well. So were all of the guests, but they mattered not to her. She no longer held any qualms about the fact that she was becoming a married woman so young. She loved InuYasha unconditionally and knew it with every fiber of her being.

She noticed InuYasha's eyes widen only a fraction of a second before his smile seemed to become wider. As she finally reached where the crowd parted as her aisle, she heard rushing breath and felt an aged arm slide through her own.

Kagome almost stopped but her grandfather urged her to keep walking. She all but glimped behind her for fear that she was dreaming, but her mother and her brother were there too. They took their rightful places near the front of the crowd to see the whole spectacle.

"But... but how?" she muttered.

"Never mind how, you're getting married child." Jii-Chan scolded her. She was a mere two feet from InuYasha now, tears already falling down her face in her joy. She kissed her Jii-Chan on the cheek as he presented her to InuYasha and shook his hand. The hanyou was just as shocked as Kagome was but just as happy. He considered them his family too.

Now standing next to one another, the couple grasped each other's hands as if their very lives depend on it. Kaede was smiling her grandmotherly smile as she witnessed the miraculous spectacle before her.

"Honoured guests, we are gathered here today to see the joining of InuYasha and Kagome. I understand from the bride that they are choosing to recite their own vows, so I should ask Kagome if she would like to speak first."

Kagome hiccuped slightly and tried to compose herself. "I-InuYasha. When I was fifteen years old I was dragged through the old dry well I never imagined I would find myself in an entirely different time period. I never imagined that fate would throw me into the Forest of InuYasha, or that I would tweak the ears of a gorgeous young boy who if not for the arrow in his chest might have been sleeping." Kagome giggled at the memory and InuYasha smiled at her, encouraging her to go on. "The Kamis have put us through some crazy trials. Enemies worse than nightmares, and the fear of the unknown.. Fear of rejection that I know we both shared and would find to be unfounded. I've grown to call this place home and it is because of you, InuYasha. I swore I would always stay by your side and now I wish to swear it to the Kamis. You are not only my protector, but my one true love. Our love transcends time, and I promise to love you and to honour you as my husband for eternity."

InuYasha was allowing his tears to streak his cheeks freely now. He cleared his throat as Kaede smiled and nodded at him to indicate his turn.

"I lived a hard life before you Kagome, and I never want to relive a moment of it. When you showed up in my era you instantly lit up my life and although your happy nature drove me insane for a good while," he smirked at her then, "eventually I found myself unsure of what I would do without it. I wanted and still want for you to always be happy and smiling. I protected you out of duty at first and before I knew it I was protecting you as my love. The woman who my youkai acknowledges as its mate. I've seen your tears, I've seen your anger and I never want you to be upset ever again. I believe with all that I am that you made me, me. I no longer think of myself as a _lowly half-breed_ but as the hanyou son of Inu no Taisho. You have shown me true strength and kindness and I owe you the world for it. I stand here today to acquire official permission to do my utmost to give you the world. I love you, so much Kagome and I will until my last breath. Even after, actually."

Shippo rushed up at this moment and handed InuYasha the box he had hidden from Kagome earlier that day. He opened it and presented her with his mother's wedding ring and his father's band. "Mother left these to me as well," he muttered.

"With the power invested in my as the village priestess, I now pronounce thee husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."

And kiss her he did. As if his life depended on it.

Cheers rang through the crowd and the married couple were swarmed with well-wishes. However, there were three people in particular they wanted to speak to.

"Mama! Jii-chan! Sota! How are you here?!" Kagome was sputtering through her ever-consistent tears, hugging them all for dear life.

"We heard you, sis! We heard you talking to us, or praying or whatever! We all thought we were going crazy and finally we figured to check the well house and it was glowing! We came through the well!"

"But... but how, it was sealed?"

"And it is again sealed, Kagome. I think your desire for us to be with you was so pure that the well's magic worked once more to bring us here to you. We're a family, Kagome. The Kamis understand that, it seems." Mama Higurashi was crying openly now too, surprised she could form words.

"You can't get home then?" InuYasha asked quietly.

Mama hugged him, causing a light blush to adorn the hanyou's cheeks. "InuYasha, home is where the heart is, and our hearts reside in part with you and Kagome."

After many introductions and explanations of things in the Feudal Era, the party slowly began to wind down. The night was not yet over for Kagome and InuYasha though.

There was still the mating process, after all.


End file.
